When walking a dog a user attaches a leash to a collar or harness allowing some control of the animal. However, if the animal becomes excited, such as when the animal sees a cat or a squirrel, it may lunge to the end of the leash. This can cause injury to the human holding the leash and can injure the dog as well. To avoid the leash holder from injuring his or her arm, shoulder, or back and to prevent the dog from injuring itself as well a number different animal training devices have been developed.
One such said device is a choke or pinch collar. Such collars are attached around the dogs neck and are able to shrink in diameter as the animal pulls on the leash. This reduction in diameter of the collar can be either a unrestricted amount or can be restricted in various means to only a limited degree of closure. However, choke and pinch collars are problematic. They can cause damage to a dog's throat, back, or soft tissue. This is especially true if the dog is strong, heavy, and lunges suddenly. In addition the choke and pinch collars are punishment based training devices utilizing pain as a means of shaping animal behavior. To avoid causing pain and possibly making the animal have negative associations with the handler alternative devices are needed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,819 and 5,383,426 to Krauss disclose a harness consisting of a neck collar worn about an animal's neck and a slidable loop. The loop is attached to the collar at two locations one of which is positioned in front of the dog and one is positioned behind the dog's head. A cord extends through these loops forming two loops. When the device is put on a dog the neck collar is attached after the cord is looped under both of the dog's front legs. The second slidable loop cord may freely move on the two loops at the front and back of the collar. When the slidable loop becomes shorter as a dog pulls on a length attached to the end of the slidable loop, the contracting loops cause constrictive pressure underneath both of the dog's legs. Putting such as device on a dog requires slipping the device around both of the dog's legs and affixing the collar around the dog's neck. In addition there is nothing which restricts the amount to which this collar can constrict, resulting in possible concentrated force on the animals soft tissue if the dog lunges.
A similar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,369 to Sporn. This device includes a neck collar having four rings or attachment locations spaced about the circumference of the collar. A length of cord having two ring clips on the end may be attached to the pair of attachment rings at the front of the neck collar device while the middle of the length of cord extends through the two rings on back of the collar. The collar is attached around the dog's neck and the cord is passed around the dog's legs and then clipped to each of the two rings on the collar. When the dog pulls on a leash attached to the cord at the back of the collar the loops extending underneath the dog's legs tighten. Again, there is nothing restricting a jolt-like pressure from being exerted during pulling.
Some of the limitations of the first Sporn patent were addressed in subsequent U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,329,885; 5,359,964; 5,370,083; 5,471,953; 5,611,298; and 5,676,093 also to Sporn. These devices describe a dog harness and leash assembly having a fixed diameter loop extending around the dog's neck and pair of strap lengths clipped to the neck loop near the shoulder joints for the dog's front legs. These pair of strap lengths extend under the dog's front legs and are fed through a sliding means at the back of the neck. The sliding means may include a means to limit the amount which the length of material extending underneath the dog's front legs may shorten.
These described devices all require putting some strap underneath the dog's legs. These straps may chafe or rub against the dog's legs when in use and put some pressure on the ligaments and joints under the dog's legs. Although this may be partially addressed by padding the straps an alternative solution would be preferable. In addition, such devices are difficult to fit to various sizes of dogs. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dog harness that restricts forward motion when a dog pulls on a leash and assist in training so that a dog can learn not to pull on the leash. The harness should be comfortable and not restrictive for the dog to wear unless the dog is pulling. It is a further object to provide a harness which is simple to use and acquires no special skills or coordination to use properly. Such a device should prevent the dog from pulling the handler forward. It is a further object to provide a device which may be used in training a dog not to pull.